Special to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise

What is hate speech? A lot of places in Europe—and Canada, our very own stray piece of Europe in the Americas—have anti-hate speech laws, our tech giants are desperately scrambling to enact anti-hate-speech here, and everyone is very concerned about it. But what is hate speech?

Sure, it’s anything that denigrates someone’s religion, skin color, or culture.

And if you believe that, I have some swamp land in Florida I’ll sell you cheeeeeeep.

We don’t have to imagine how these laws would be applied. We’ve seen them applied in Because these “laws” are subject to interpretation, and because exceptions are carved out for artistic expression and legitimate grievance by those who are applying the laws, they get applied haphazardly and at the whim of those who hold power.

And we know those who hold power here because they’ve been conducting “days of shame” against what they consider hate speech, or outright banning it or closing down social media accounts.

So, for instance “piss Christ” is totally not an hate crime, but a legitimate artistic expression against something the artist believes offensive. The Virgin Mary painted with elephant dung? Totally not offensive. A picture of Mohamed with a bomb in his turban. Oh, hell no, that’s horribly, horribly offensive.

Saying anything that anyone on the other side deems racist, including comparing Michelle Obama to a gorilla? The most hate-speechy thing ever. Because Racist. Calling a white president Chimpy McBushHitler? Totally not hate speech. (Does the left realize that they’re revealing their own deep seated racism, in that they think only black people look like apes? I mean, let’s be honest, all people look like apes. Mostly because we are. )

However starting an hash tag to #cancelwhitepeople is totally not racist, because according to the left’s major dysfunction, hate speech or racism only can be so when it comes from a position of power.

And despite the fact that women and minorities are in many positions of power in the West, for the left it’s always the nineteenth century, and only white men have power. In fact, the more power they acquire, mostly through social-media company control and lynch mobs, the more they scream it’s “patriarchy” and “white supremacy. ”

Dear Lord. I grew up in a patriarchy (even that nowhere as bad as those in the Middle East) and I visited a white Supremacy (South Africa. Again not anywhere as bad as the middle East. Yes, Arabs are white. No Islam is NOT a religion of racial integration. ) These strange and pathetic people controlling the cultural establishment but still raging about how oppressed they are have no clue what either of those things are.

So we know precisely what hate speech is. “Anything the left doesn’t like and which makes them feel uncomfortable. ”

The thing is though that societies and powerful elites—and let’s face it, in our society the left is THE powerful elite with the megaphone. The Marxists could never do anything but propaganda but that they do very well and it has led to the control of the media, entertainment and mass media. Which except for the internet (which is why they’re trying to control that too) means they control the discourse—need to hear things that make them uncomfortable.

Because every human society develops blind spots. And the left is not exempt, witness convincing themselves they live in a society that’s “White supremacist” and “patriarchal” when schools, jobs, and certainly every cultural institution gives white males last place in hiring or … well, anything, including grades, and makes them work twice as hard to get where others get without effort.

The left has in fact been in a position to control all discourse for fifty years before about the last decade. And what happened? It set a course ever more hard left, and enshrined Marxism in teaching, in the study of history and in all social discourse, despite the fact the USSR fell, despite the fact every socialist country is a murderous sh*tshow.

Because talking about it made them uncomfortable and they could hang the figleaf of “There’s never been real socialism/communism. ” (Which is true, because neither of those work as long as we don’t have angels in charge. Their next step is to say we should be administered by computers. I’ve heard it already from the derpier fringe. It’s like they never read stuff like Caidin’s The God Machine. Wait, they probably never did, or if they did they’ve forgotten it, because it’s uncomfortable. )

That figleaf can’t withstand any real opposition but they don’t have any real opposition. It’s their Bubble and they’ll shut you down if they want to.

Yes. I know. So far the big tech companies went after truly repulsive people. But what you must understand is that they see no difference between those people and us. You can tell by what they call us. They are so unused to any kind of opposition, that if you challenge them on anything you’re “a nazi. ” and “worse than Hitler. ”

For reducing the bureaucratic regulations in our insane bureaucracy and so called environmental regs that benefit no one but the bureaucrats (our stupid forest fires for instance are the result of environmental regs that lead to mismanagement of forests. Forest fires are NATURAL. IF you don’t want them, you need intervention. ) Trump is called Hitler.

Notice that the people calling him this aren’t arrested, just like the ones protesting oppression under Bush didn’t even get a “Shut up please. ”

And for not agreeing with their taste in books (or rather in authors. They don’t read books. They interpret the authors’ politics) we get called nazis and sexist and racist and homophobic, even though none of this makes any sense whatsoever.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been called a Nazi for advocating minimal government, personal freedom and the equal application of law.

All of which means from their extreme left perch, the left sees everyone else as Nazis, and given the power to shut up people that make them uncomfortable, they’ll shut all of us.

Frankly the tech companies have proven they’re in collusion, which I’m sure falls under some kind of regulation, particularly since they are more or less natural monopolies. (Yes, there are natural monopolies, but they are only extended to any length with government money and support. )

It won’t work, you know. For them, I mean. In the long run it doesn’t work. The right now knows they’re not alone. They’ve had a taste of community, and the left can’t erase that. But if we let it go on, it will take us down a very bad path for very long.

Most of these companies aren’t really “left”—they’re left by default because their controllers aren’t political and go with what they think “everyone believes” which is mostly the mass media—yes, there are exceptions, like Facebook, but most aren’t really left. They’re just…. derpy and half-on. They don’t know anything.

They just know the left calls them horrible names if they don’t do what the left wants. Which is why they do what the left wants.

It’s time to make noise. A lot of noise. Not in defense of unpalatable bullshit, but in defense of speech. Even stupid speech. Even ridiculous speech. Yes, even hate speech. Usually the more the haters (real haters) speak, the more they foam at the mouth and reveal their biases. So it’s a good thing for them to be out in the open and not some enticing forbidden fruit.

And it removes the left’s authority to declare anything that they don’t like “hate speech. ”

Which must be done, if we are to save civilization. Not even “Western Civilization” just civilization. Because if they remove the ability to debate issues like civilized people, it’s going to get very uncivilized, very fast.

Yes, I know they’re the establishment and they hate losing power. That’s too bad. Come up with better ideas. You don’t actually have ANY ideas left, but screaming “oppression” and inventing reasons why you’re oppressed.

The USSR fell. Maybe they should sit down and examine why, instead of running around with their fingers in their ears and screaming injustice to drown unpleasant voices. And they certainly don’t have a right to jam fingers in OUR ears.

No one ever needed protection to say they loved apple pie and mom. And also honestly, universally accepted speech is not needed.

What is needed is for all voices to be heard equally. And then the polity can choose the best.

Yes, what I am telling you is to stop being polite. The left uses rudeness and mau-mauing in big mobs to scare corporations and to give the impression the left is the majority (if they’re a quarter of the nation, I’d be surprised. )

The right takes it because they want to be reasonable and polite. And we’re busy people, with real lives so we can’t match the obsessives of the left with their hates of the day and their twitter mobs.

But there’s more of us than of them, so force yourself to say something and it will force multiply.

It’s time the gloves came off. Go and be loud. Because if we don’t stop this train it’s going to end in the cartridge box, and once it gets there, even if we win, we lose. If people have to actively fight the left, for real, physically, the regime that comes after will be all those horrible things the left thinks we are. It’s normal human reaction.

And you and I won’t like that any better than we like socialism.

So, go make noise, so you don’t have to make war.

 

Reprinted from According to Hoyt for August 9, 2018